Mozilla is giving users the nuclear option on AI. Starting February 24 with Firefox 148, the browser will let people completely block all current and future generative AI features with a single toggle - a stark departure from competitors forcing AI into every corner of the web. The move signals Mozilla's bet that AI skepticism, not AI hype, might be its competitive edge as Google Chrome and newcomers like Perplexity race to embed chatbots everywhere.
Mozilla just handed control back to users in the AI wars. The company announced Monday that Firefox 148, rolling out February 24, will include a new AI controls section that lets people nuke every single generative AI feature from their browser - both present and future.
It's a striking reversal in an industry that's been stuffing AI into products whether users asked for it or not. While Google bakes Gemini into Search and Microsoft pushes Copilot across Windows, Mozilla is betting some people just want their browser to browse.
The new settings page includes a "Block AI enhancements" master switch. Flip it on, and Firefox stops showing pop-ups about AI features, hides reminders about chatbot sidebars, and essentially pretends the AI revolution never happened. It's the browser equivalent of noise-canceling headphones for the hype cycle.
But Mozilla isn't going full Luddite. Users who want some AI but not all of it can pick and choose from a menu of specific features. That includes translations for browsing in your preferred language, automatic alt text generation for PDFs, AI-powered tab grouping, link previews, and the sidebar chatbot that connects to Anthropic Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and Le Chat Mistral.
"AI is changing the web, and people want very different things from it," Mozilla wrote in its . "We've heard from many who want nothing to do with AI. We've also heard from others who want AI tools that are genuinely useful."
